2008 Jeep Patriot 2.4 from North America

Summary:

Cheaply made, poor ride and under powered

Faults:

Turn signal stalk not working correctly.

High beams are worse than low beams.

General Comments:

This rental Patriot is not a good vehicle. The seats are terrible, no support and too small. The road noise is very annoying. The engine is very under powered for this 2wd model, gas mileage is not very good ~ 19 hwy. The handling is far worse than the last Jeep Liberty I rented. Overall, this Jeep is made cheap and it rattles.

26th Dec 2008, 02:24

Just because it's a rental car wouldn't make the seats uncomfortable or the cabin noisy; these are design flaws that have nothing to do with the condition of the car. The fact is, Chrysler is a couple of steps behind every other automaker these days. Sad but true.

12th May 2009, 19:23

12th May 2009, 21:32

I respectfully disagree with the comments on the fuel economy being poor. I've never gotten less than 25MPG and typically closer to 30MPG, even in mixed driving and 31+ on the highway. Not a luxury car, but reasonably comfortable and not noisy unless you push it. If you're driving it hard, its probably rather noisy and sucks up gas. I admit I'm easy on it -- I pretty much stick to the speed limits. I wanted an economical crossover and I think I've got it.

2008 Jeep Patriot 4x4 4 Cylinder from North America

Summary:

Lemon

Faults:

I bought the car in September 2007, I used 4 wheel drive for the first time in early December during our first snow fall. The next time I started the car the 4WD! light came on I was unable to engage/disengage 4 wheel drive and turning the car off/on did not resolve the light.

I took the car to the dealer and it was in the shop for 3 "Business" days. I was told the issue was caused by a screw that was driven through the wiring to the 4x4 controller. I was told this must have been done during production.

The car ran fine after the repair till today April 24, 2008. On my way to work my ABS 4WD! ESP and Traction Control light illuminated as I was braking downhill (from 40 to 30 MPH). I immediately pulled off the side of the road and turned the jeep off/on. The lights were still on, I decided to take a risk and move the car forward. The warning lights shut off after the car began to move.

About 10 minutes later when accelerating up hill (from 40MPH to 50MPH) the same 4 lights came on for about 10 seconds and then went out.

Another 8 miles down the road I came into another area that required me to change speed (40MPH to 50MPH). The same 4 lights came on again and stayed on this time. So I drove to the closest Jeep dealer to show their service dept.

It seems like a coincidence that every time the issue appeared it was under accelerating/braking when in 4th gear.

16th Sep 2008, 15:39

13th Dec 2008, 22:50

If nobody ever bought a car during its first year of production, there would never be a SECOND year of production. This is no excuse for shoddy workmanship; perhaps bankruptcy will drive that lesson home.